Experian Survey: Only 8% Of Marketers Use Cross-Channel Strategies

Cross-channel marketing is one of the most common buzzwords marketers hear everyday, but only 8% of marketers have effectively implemented cross-channel strategies in their interactions with customers, according to results from a recent survey presented yesterday at Experian Marketing Services’ Client Summit in Las Vegas.

The main obstacle is data. “Data is a blessing and a curse,” said Anita Gandhi, VP of strategic services and consumer insights at Experian. “It’s so hard to connect different pieces of information that you have about your customers, much less (to) layer that with other sets of data.”

Email remains the key channel for connecting customers across different touch points, according to the report. “Email is still the most successful channel for reaching customers, and new technologies let you bring the Web experience to your customer [through email],” said Yara Lutz, Experian's VP of client services. “Also, not only do you want to bring a Web experience, you can use behavioral data about how people are interacting with your emails to improve your retargeting.”

Gandhi and Lutz cited a case study in which Experian helped high-end retailer Bergdorf Goodman use Facebook’s Custom Audiences tool to tailor its Facebook ads based on people’s interactions with emails. Bergdorf Goodman had a 50% email match rate with its customers’ Facebook IDs and its targeted ads delivered ROI results that were nine times higher than the standard Facebook ads.

Reminder emails also are useful. Experian clients who sent reminder emails to customers who did not complete a purchase saw a 164% lift in transaction rates, according to the company. In addition, more retailers are beginning to adopt e-receipts. “When we talked about how to use e-receipts last year, only 10% of our clients were using it and this year it’s up to over 40% as more and more customers come to expect it," Lutz said.

In terms of device usage, Experian’s Simmons Connect panel, which tracks the online and offline behavior of participants, showed that 15% made a purchase on a mobile phone, up from 7% last year. More than twice as many people continue to shop on tablets, with 43% making a purchase on the device’s bigger screen.